“We are not associating our relations with Japan with the conflict in Ukraine or with the climate change,” Lavrov said. “We have a feeling that our [bilateral] relations are sustainable. This was what our leaders [Japan’s] Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Vladimir Putin pointed at when they spoke with each other.”

“We proceed from the fact that our president had been invited, he accepted the invitation and the Japanese side confirmed the dates of the visit,” Lavrov said.

The agreement on Putin’s visit to Japan was reached during a telephone conversation between the two leaders in February of 2014. As the situation in Ukraine deteriorated, Tokyo repeatedly stated that there were no changes in preparations for the visit.

Late last month, the Japanese government imposed sanctions against Russia over Ukraine.